Google Earth

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Skateistan

The plane lands. Yes, I am here! As soon as I get off the plane it becomes very hot; I shouldn't have worn pants but whatever. I weave my way through the airport. My hat is making me pretty hot. I get to the baggage claim and grab my duffle bag full of skateboards. I am waiting outside for Ollie and soon enough he comes in the van. I put my stuff in the back and I am then greeted by him. "What's Up dude?" He says and in return I say, "Hey bro." We then go to Ollie's house and there is Kenny Reed. He is my favorite professional skater, by the way, so it was super exciting seeing him. Since it is already six, I am not going to get to go to the warehouse which is kinda a bummer. We eat a plain dinner of rice and beef. Then just relax and watch Kenny "ollie" off the porch. The sun shines in my eyes and I slowly wake up. I immediately smell some kind of bread. So I hop out of bed, put some skating jeans on and a plain t-shirt and some socks. Now I have to pick what shoes I want to wear because I brought four pairs of VANS© and one pair of Nikes. I choose a pair of VANS©, they are cheaper and are better skating shoes. I eat the bread but the milk was disgusting so I drank some bottled water. I then jumped in the van and chose a girl skateboard out of my bag. Off we go I am pulsing with excitement, and I can't wait to get there. We are here; I jump out of the car and sprint in and as soon as I am in the building I am in shock at how amazing this place is. There is no one here so I jump on my board and start skating around jumping off stuff, ollieing over ramps and snapping on the half pipe. Skating was fun but all the kids get here, so I go to meet them. Fortunately, I get to skate again before school starts. I have the kids teach me some things about skating seeing that a lot of them are better than me. It is time for class so we go inside and we learn math that I have already learned so the teacher has me teach. That happens in many of the other classes like English but not Afghani; they teach me and I have a lot of fun learning it. In one class we are praying and I hear a helicopter fly over. For me this is normal but they are scared, I realize they are very tense, the teacher stops the class and is listening, waiting for the helicopter to fly away. I then realize that the helicopter is American and that they saw it flying by and it made them horrified to see it. I realize how lucky I am not to be scared of things like that. The day goes on and we skate a little more then it is time to go back to the house with Ollie. It has been a very fun day and I have learned a lot. I hope I can come back.







View Kabul in a larger map

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Day Five

Tap on the forhead. I immediatly wake up "what do you want I say". Jackson and Shen are laughing in the doorway of the tent.The tent is freezing and when they left the door was wide open so I guess I will just wake up. I put my clothes on (jeans and a hoodie), but it was freezing. I jumped back in the tent and quicly put long underwear under everything. Oh warmth you are the best. I go back out side. It is not cold anymore and now I can get over to where everyone else is. Everyone is complaining its so cold or the ride is gonna suck. Well I am officially not looking forward to the ride because it is 20 miles long. It is also going to be cold. Yay just what I want to hear I say to my friends (sarcasim). Sweats would be a good idea but what if it gets hot. After breakfeast I grab my shorts grab a t-shirt out of Shani's tent because I ran out of clean ones yesterday. Jump in a van and go to the start of the ride. After the two mile uphill we get a nice long downhill. We get to a flat and there is so many headwinds its just plain annoying. Finally we stop in river bed and have a little lunch. Then we go to the side of a little river. The group leader tell us we have to cross it and I say "with our shoes?" The teacher tells us yes of course your not just going to take your shoes off and put them back on again. I walk across through the mud squishing sloshing trudging through the mud. We get back to camp and I immidietly jump out of everything put a bathing suit grab a tool and shampoo and sprint for the shower. I jump in washing all the mud off my legs. Tonight is the last fire so it is all about the ninth graders and how they are leaving. I dont see anything because I am sleeping I slept the whole time. When I get up hug some people goodnight, and go to bed. I walk into the tent. Drop on my sleeping. Shred my clothes off me. Hop under the covers. Say goodnight to Jackson and just drop dead asleep.

View day 5 in a larger map